
DIY City
The Collective Power of Small Actions
Hank Dittmar(Author)
Island Press
Published on 31. August 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
200 pages
978-1-64283-052-1 (ISBN)
Description
Some utopian plans have shaped our cities, from England's New Towns and Garden Cities to the Haussmann plan for Paris and the L'Enfant plan for Washington, DC. But these grand plans are the exception, and seldom turn out as envisioned by the utopian planner. Inviting city neighbourhoods are more often works of improvisation on a small scale. This type of bottom-up development gives cities both their character and the ability to respond to sudden change.
Hank Dittmar, urban planner, friend of artists and creatives, sometime rancher, believed in letting small things happen. Dittmar concluded that big plans were often the problem. Looking at the global cities of the world, he saw a crisis of success, with gentrification and global capital driving up home prices in some cities, while others decayed for lack of investment.
In DIY City, Dittmar explains why individual initiative, small-scale business, and small development matter, using lively stories from his own experience and examples from recent history, such as the revival of Camden Lock in London and the nascent rebirth of Detroit. DIY City, Dittmar's last original work, captures the lessons he learned throughout the course of his varied career, from transit-oriented development to Lean Urbanism, that can be replicated to create cities where people can flourish.
DIY City is a timely response to the challenges many cities face today, with a short supply of affordable housing, continued gentrification, and offshore investment. Dittmar's answer to this crisis is to make Do-It-Yourself the norm rather than the exception by removing the barriers to small-scale building and local business. The message of DIY City can offer hope to anyone who cares about cities.
Hank Dittmar, urban planner, friend of artists and creatives, sometime rancher, believed in letting small things happen. Dittmar concluded that big plans were often the problem. Looking at the global cities of the world, he saw a crisis of success, with gentrification and global capital driving up home prices in some cities, while others decayed for lack of investment.
In DIY City, Dittmar explains why individual initiative, small-scale business, and small development matter, using lively stories from his own experience and examples from recent history, such as the revival of Camden Lock in London and the nascent rebirth of Detroit. DIY City, Dittmar's last original work, captures the lessons he learned throughout the course of his varied career, from transit-oriented development to Lean Urbanism, that can be replicated to create cities where people can flourish.
DIY City is a timely response to the challenges many cities face today, with a short supply of affordable housing, continued gentrification, and offshore investment. Dittmar's answer to this crisis is to make Do-It-Yourself the norm rather than the exception by removing the barriers to small-scale building and local business. The message of DIY City can offer hope to anyone who cares about cities.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Washington
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
One 8-page colour insert, 25 photos
Dimensions
Height: 205 mm
Width: 134 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
246 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-64283-052-1 (9781642830521)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Hank Dittmar (1956-2018) was the founding principal of Hank Dittmar Associates, an international urban planning firm. Before that, he was chief executive of The Prince's Foundation for Building Community, leading the foundation in contributing to the design of our built environment at practical and policy levels both in the UK and internationally. Dittmar also served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Congress for the New Urbanism, the founding president and CEO of Reconnecting America, and executive director of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership.